Time for Pie!

[mylandmyrules]

Nell was determined not to mess this up the way she'd missed her training time with Marc today. She still couldn't believe she'd completely slept through her alarm! But now she had to get things ready to bake pies with the Detective. She had a couple of different options ready for them to try - all vegan, of course, since she assumed he was making them for Steven.

All that was necessary was for the Detective to arrive.

Comments

[pocketpretzels]

And arrive he did!

Nell's assumption was more or less correct. He was certainly planning on sharing the fruits (heh) of his labour with Steven, but also as a somewhat lazy vegetarian himself he'd found over the past few months that the vegan versions of things were... just fine, actually. At least, when the option was there.

Anyway. He was here, and ringing the bell to let Nell know of such.

[mylandmyrules]

Nell hurried down the stairs to let the Detective in. "Come on in, Detective," she said, handing him Rigel. "Hang onto him and follow me up. Hospitality and safety to you while you're here."

She led the way up the steps to her apartment and led him into tne kitchen. "Hat goes right there," she said pointing to a shelf by the door. "Thank you."

[pocketpretzels]

Right, okay, he had a cat in his hands. And he'd been ready to hang his hat off the doorknob when he was directed otherwise. So with a quick spin in the direction she indicated, off it went.

"My thanks for taking the time to do this," he said. Was it slightly odd to be in a woman's home unaccompanied? Perhaps. But it wasn't as if he had any sort of intentions towards her.

[mylandmyrules]

And she certainly didn't have any sort of intentions toward him. Plus she had a gun in her pocket just for safety - not for the Detective, just to have.

"You're most welcome," Nell said. "Now do you have any ideas on what you want to make?"

[pocketpretzels]

"Miss Gingrich ended up with several more pumpkins than she knew what to do with," Watts said. "And as such the extras are now mine since pumpkin pie is what immediately sprang to mind," he told her.

[mylandmyrules]

"Pumpkin pie," Nell said with a nod. "That's easy enough to do. Do you have any of the pumpkins? If not I think I have one downstairs we can use."

[pocketpretzels]

“I do, actually,” he said, indicating the tote bag he’d brought with him slung over one shoulder, which was basically entirely filled by one medium-sized pumpkin.

[mylandmyrules]

"Marvelous," Nell said. "Well, let's get it out and get started. First you're going to have to wash up. Rigel can come to me while you do that. Prob'ly want to roll up your sleeves and if you're so inclined as to not want to get your clothes dirty. I've got an apron there if you want one."

[pocketpretzels]

Watts nodded, giving the kitten one last skritch behind his ears before handing him over. Setting the bag down on the counter space, he took out the pumpkin he'd brought with him and shrugged out of his suit jacket, placing it in the now-empty bag.

"Much obliged," he said, taking the apron and tying it on and then rolling up his sleeves before heading to the sink to wash up.

[mylandmyrules]

Nell closed Rigel and Cygnus in the spare bedroom before returning and washing up herself. "Okay, lets get all the guts out of the pumpkin. Save the seeds and we can bake them for a treat later. Once we've got the innards out we can mash it all up for the pie."

[pocketpretzels]

Watts, of course, had no idea that there were in fact multiple varieties of pumpkin, some of which would have been better for pie than the kind that generally got carved into jack-o-lanterns. But at least they were all edible!

Nell might notice that when Watts took the knife to cut the pumpkin in half, he held it quite awkwardly. Still, he got the job done.

"Ugh," he muttered as he plunged his hands into the stringy bits to begin pulling them out. Yes, the man dealt with dead bodies on the regular and pumpkin guts made him go ‘ugh’.

[mylandmyrules]

Nell hid her smile and just focused on separating out the seeds and putting the rest into large bowl to mash up more. She had coconut cream, brown sugar, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, cloves, salt, and cornstarch to mix it all in together. She'd also carefully written down the amounts of everything and the instructions for the Detective to take away with him.

"You're doing great."

[pocketpretzels]

"All right, what next?" he asked, peering at the bowl full of ingredients.

[mylandmyrules]

"Cut the rest of the pumpkin into pieces and put it on this tray. We'll roast it while we make the pie crust." She was kind of interested to see how his peicevs turned out. She got the ingredients for the crust out of the refrigerator. "These all need to be refrigerated to make sure they're nice and cold before they're mixed up."

[pocketpretzels]

Not into nice even chunks, lets put it that way. "This'll be my first time using a modern oven," he admitted. Not that he'd used the ones back home all that often either.

[mylandmyrules]

"Back home I do all my cooking an baking with a wood stove," Nell said. "It took me quite some time to manage to figure out how to adjust what I did so I didn't ruin everything I cooked."

She had him set out the pieces on a baking tray. "Good. Into the oven for about an hour at 350 degreees. I had it all preheated. Now let's clean this mess up and wash our hands before we make the crust."

While Watts straightened his things and washed up, Nell set out all the pumpkin seeds for later baking.

"Okay, we're going to mix all of this flour sugar and salt up, and then we cut this vegan butter into chunks, good, and mix it up till it looks like coarse meal. Mix the vegan shortening in too."

[pocketpretzels]

Jack's building had had stoves with thermostats, a fairly new innovation. It was not something Watts had concerned himself overly with, as infrequently as he used it.

He followed along, mixing things in as directed. "Shortening?" he asked, not quite sure what that was, new to baking and all.

[mylandmyrules]

"It's a type of fat that's solid at room temperature. It will help give the pastry a crumbly and crisp texture. This one is vegan, of course. Good. Now we're going to add a couple of tablespoons of ice water until it starts to clump up."

When it looked to be the right consistency, she had him dump into the lightly floured counter. "Dip your hands in this ice water, then shape the dough into a ball. We don't want the dough getting too warm, so don't work it too much."

[pocketpretzels]

"Like this?" he asked, when he got it appropriately ball-shaped.

[mylandmyrules]

"Excellent. Now use this rolling pin and carefully roll it out, like so..." She demonstrated on the ball of dough she'd made herself. "Then we'll put it in the pie plate."

He was doing well enough, though occasionally Nell had to clasp her hands together to not just take over and do it herself.

[pocketpretzels]

Yeah, Watts noticed those points where Nell was very clearly tempted to take over, and he appreciated that she held back all the same.

"This seemed far more intimidating a project before we actually got started," he commented as he rolled out the dough. Now... it didn't seem so bad.

[mylandmyrules]

"It's always easier if there's someone to help you navigate," Nell said. "Now dip your hands in the ice water again so you can shape your pie crust a bit."

It... definitely needed some shaping. But, it would still taste just as good no matter how it looked.

"Good enough," she said. "Now we'll put these in the freezer for a bit while we clean up. Might have time for a cup of tea before the next step."

[pocketpretzels]

Oh yeah, this pie was not going to end up looking bakery-shelf perfect by any means. But as long as it was edible...

"Handy contraption, that," Watts commented as the crusts went into the freezer.

[mylandmyrules]

"Aren't they just," Nell said. "And this one is so big. We had a sma;; one back home, but this is a delight."

She washed up and put the water on. "Let's clean up our space and have a cup if tea. It's almost time to get the pumpkin out, but we have a few minutes."

[pocketpretzels]

"I- may have spent a good chunk of time after I learned the refrigerator can just dispense ice upon command doing just that," Watts commented as he went about doing the tidying-up. "I'd never seen anything quite like it."

[mylandmyrules]

Nell laughed. "I'm afraid mine doesn't do anything that fancy, but I can see the appeal." She assisted in the clean-up, then poured them each a cup of tea before sitting down at the table.

"Time for a short break."

[pocketpretzels]

You could put a tray full of water in it and have ice hours later, which was a step up from having to purchase it from an ice seller!

"It sounds like your shop opening was successful," Watts said as he sat down. He'd been there early on in the day, but listening to radio this morning there had been quite the extensive list of visitors.

[mylandmyrules]

"It was indeed," Nell said. "I'm very pleased with how many people showed up. I'm hoping it bodes well for the store's continued success. I'm afraid though that it was such a day that I stayed up later than I should and then slept right through my alarm this morning. I was supposed to start up my training with Marc again and I missed it entirely."

[pocketpretzels]

"Oh dear," Watts said sympathetically. "Was he at least- understanding about the matter?"

[mylandmyrules]

"He said it was fine," Nell said. "I'll make him a little something as an apology for next time."

[pocketpretzels]

"Sounds like the sort of thing he'd say," Watts said. It wasn't that Marc was easygoing, exactly, but he didn't seem to place a lot of value on his own time.

"I'm sure he'll appreciate that." Even as Watts was almost certain he'd say it wasn't necessary.

[mylandmyrules]

Nell was certain Marc would say that as well, but that wasn't the important thing, now was it?

"I feel bad because I'd bothered him into starting up the training again and then I let him down," Nell said. "But he's pretty understanding."

The timer went off and Nell rose. "No, no, I can take it out. It has to cool a little before we work with it." She pulled the pumpkin out and took the pie crusts from the refrigerator. "We can do this part sitting down." She handed him a sheet of wax paper and demonstrated how to put it over the crust and then fill it with uncooked rice.

"And now we'll just tuck these in the oven for about half an hour, same temperature, and then they'll be ready for filling once we've actually made the filling."

[pocketpretzels]

Nope, the important thing was stubbornly continuing to remind Marc that he (and his time) was valued, even if he tried to insist he wasn't worth the trouble.

"What's the rice for?" he couldn't help but ask.

[mylandmyrules]

And it - and he, himself - was valued. Greatly.

"Good question," Nell said warmly. "We freeze the crusts so that they don't shrink down so much when they bake and we weight the crusts down so they hold their shape as they cook. You can also use dried beans or pie weights if you have them."

She set the pumpkin pieces in front of him. "The skin should peel right off and then you'll put it in this bowl and mash it up before adding the other ingredients. Don't worry. I've written down all the ingredients and the directions for you."

[pocketpretzels]

"Oh, good," Watts said as he got to work peeling the skin off the roasted pumpkin pieces. "I've a fairly decent memory but I don't know that I'd be able to recall all of these steps without some assistance. And- I certainly don't have the ingredients on hand." Well. Barring the (vegan) butter, anyway. And the pumpkin.

[mylandmyrules]

"I can send you home with the spices and such that you'll need," Nell offered. "They're a bit pricey and you have to buy a whole container when you only need a small bit of each."

She handed him a whisk to start mixing together all of the ingredients. "Keep whisking until all of the cornstarch is incorporated."

[pocketpretzels]

"Oh!" Watts said, pleasantly surprised by the offer as he got started on the whisking. "If you're certain. I'd appreciate that."

[mylandmyrules]

"Of course," Nell said and proceeded to measure out, bag up, and label the various spices he would need. "You'll have to pick up the coconut cream, of course, and you might want to pick up a vegan whipped cream rather than trying to make that from scratch, but at least you won't need to spend a small fortune on spices."

When she was done she watched as he finished up. "Very good." She pulled the half-baked crusts out of the oven and took the rice and wax paper out of them. "Now, half the mixture goes in each of these and we'll pop them back in the oven for an hour."

[pocketpretzels]

"Modern prices still make my head spin on occasion," Watts admitted as he divvied the filling up between the two crusts.

[mylandmyrules]

"I'm used to making or growing most everything I need," Nell said, "But making vegan things has certainly been an adventure."

She nodded as he finished up. "Excellent. Now into the oven and then we'll clean it all up and have a bit of a break."

[pocketpretzels]

"I ascribed to a vegetarian diet- mostly-," Watts amended with a slight grimace, because yes, when he'd been seeing Jack, he'd fallen off that particular wagon, "- even before I started seeing Steven. But vegan was new to me. I don't mind it at all, even if sometimes the offerings at restaurants and the like are limited," he said as the pies went into the oven.

[mylandmyrules]

Nell shook her head. "I still find it hard to understand choosing not to eat meat." Especially bacon.

"I do know why people choose not to, yes, and I respect their decision, but, I must say... a good steak or even butter... Well, each to their own I suppose."

[pocketpretzels]

"I've had- a number of poor experiences with meat-based products over the last few years," Watts admitted. "I do not particularly miss it."

[mylandmyrules]

Nell nodded. "I can understand that."

She couldn't help but think, though, that if he'd been eating her meat based dishes that he might indeed be missing it now.

"When the pies are done in the oven they should be left to cool at room temperature for half an hour or so and then refrigerated for several hours, or better yet, overnight. You did a good job with them, Detective, and I think you'll do an even better job tomorrow."

[pocketpretzels]

Perhaps. But Jack had also been an excellent cook, and- well.

The less said about that, the better.

"It was thanks to your guidance," he pointed out. "I appreciate the confidence."

[mylandmyrules]

A story which Nell, no doubt, did not need to know in any case.

"I was happy to help," she said. "You have a fine attention to details, Detective." Except when entering a building and depositing his hat and picking on her plants without noticing, of course.